A Golden Fury by Samantha Cohoe Pages: 352
Published by Wednesday Books on October 13, 2020
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy & Magic
Source: ARC from Publisher, Finished Hardcover from Publisher
Thea Hope longs to be an alchemist out of the shadow of her famous mother. The two of them are close to creating the legendary Philosopher’s Stone—whose properties include immortality and can turn any metal into gold—but just when the promise of the Stone’s riches is in their grasp, Thea’s mother destroys the Stone in a sudden fit of violent madness.
While combing through her mother’s notes, Thea learns that there’s a curse on the Stone that causes anyone who tries to make it to lose their sanity. With the threat of the French Revolution looming, Thea is sent to Oxford for her safety, to live with the father who doesn’t know she exists.
But in Oxford, there are alchemists after the Stone who don’t believe Thea’s warning about the curse—instead, they’ll stop at nothing to steal Thea’s knowledge of how to create the Stone. But Thea can only run for so long, and soon she will have to choose: create the Stone and sacrifice her sanity, or let the people she loves die.
A Golden Fury is a young adult fantasy by author Samantha Cohoe. I found this book to be a magical tale about alchemy and the creation of the coveted philosopher’s stone. I really liked the world that Samantha set the story in and I loved the strong females that the story featured. It was a cool twist on the philosopher’s stone, and I ended up enjoying this one. I can’t wait to see what Samantha Cohoe creates for us next! This was a good debut from her.
In A Golden Fury, we meet our main character Thea, and right off the bat Thea brings us into her life and into the story. She does a great job giving us the backstory. She is a budding alchemist, who is helping out her mother. Her mother is trying to create the first philosopher’s stone, when they stumble across not only how they think it is created but also the cost of the stone, which is madness. I loved this twist on the creation of the stone, with female alchemists being the creator. It was a great strong feminist vibe, but at times I found myself wishing that Thea’s mom was a better character. Don’t get me wrong- I understand why she had to be so hard at times because she is in the Victorian era, which is so restrictive for women, but I still found myself wishing that she was a little warmer, at least to Thea.
Thea was a good character. I enjoyed her journey and her romance story. I loved how much she cared about the people in her life, and throughout the book she does show some impressive strength and growth. When Thea is sent to Oxford, she encounters many people who want to use her because the allure of the Philosopher’s stone is very strong. I liked the plot of A Golden Fury, and the characters were good as well, but this is definitely more of a plot driven story and not a character driven tale.
Overall, I enjoyed A Golden Fury. I thought it was an inventive take on the Philosopher’s stone, and I really enjoyed the depiction of female alchemists set in the Victorian era. I think plot driven readers that like fantasy and magic will enjoy A Golden Fury.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2020 New Release Challenge
- ARCtober 2020
Thank you for being part of the tour. I’m glad you enjoyed the book.
Heather
TBR and Beyond Tours